Michael Blackburn

LET'S BUILD A CITY

(The Vision of T Dan Smith)


1

a gash
dead straight and south facing
endless doors, grey slate roofs
a good combination
of castle and sardines
the Romans would end their wall
proud spawners of giants

my father was a Durham miner
he could justify almost anything
Plato's Republic
Caruso and Clara Butt

look back
the strident good humour
Schubert on the piano
delicately-sliced
George Bernard Shaw on the sideboard
was a good beginning